$2 Gas? Experts Differ On Possibility
 

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$2 gas? Experts differ on possibility


By Adam Wilmoth
The Oklahoman

Falling fuel prices caused Helen Hays to rush to the nearest gasoline station Friday afternoon.

"I'm tickled to death. That's why I'm filling up right now," Hays said while filling up at $2.70 a gallon. "I'm afraid to take the chance that I'll get up in the morning and the price will be up again. I'm going to grab it while it's at this price."

After climbing steadily for much of the year, Oklahoma's average gasoline price has slipped 21 cents over the past 18 days, according to AAA statistics. Industry analysts say the price could continue falling over the next few days and weeks as long as there are no major supply disruptions.

"All the stars are in proper alignment," AAA Oklahoma spokesman Chuck Mai said. "We are enjoying reduced demand because the summer driving season is all but over, and we have greater gasoline inventories than were expected. It looks like Iran is ready to negotiate over their plans for nuclear energy. The cease-fire agreement is still holding between Israel and Hezbollah."

Mai said prices could fall to below $2 in the fall, as long as there are no hurricanes or other supply problems.

"The forces that drove the price up are still with us," he said. "We are still seeing strong demand and booming economies in China and India. But if we see those countries' demand drop due to the high prices, and if we can open up some additional sources of oil in this country, which Congress seems ready to do, then that optimism could translate into lower prices by the end of 2006 and early 2007. I don't know if it will get down below $2, but it's not totally out of the question."

Bruce Bell, chairman of the Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association of Oklahoma, said prices likely will continue to fall over the next few weeks, but he said $2 gasoline is unlikely anytime soon.

"I wish it would go down that far, but I don't see that happening anytime soon," he said. "Barring a global depression, there is too much growth in gasoline demand for the price to fall that far. But I do think prices will continue to decline, following the price reduction in crude oil and the wholesale price of gasoline."

Recent prices

Oklahoma's statewide average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline fell to about $2.79 a gallon on Friday, down from more than $2.98 on Aug. 8. Friday's national average was $2.89, down from almost $3.04 two weeks ago.

Consumers in the Oklahoma City metro area paid an average price of nearly $2.76 on Friday, down from almost $2.97 on Aug. 6. Prices at individual stations, however, fell as low as $2.49 a gallon, according to gasbuddy.com.

In Tulsa, Friday's average price was $2.73, down from $2.97 on Aug. 7. The lowest price in the Tulsa area was $2.62 on Friday afternoon.

Lower prices could lead to significant savings for Evan Hill of Oklahoma City. "I do less driving now than I used to," he said while filling up his SUV at $2.70 a gallon. "If prices keep going down, we could go out for dinner more than we do now."

Ok, so driving 15 miles to go out to dinner is possible at $2/gallon but not at $3?

Sometimes seemingly intelligent people baffle me with their habits and thoughts on gas prices.

High prices are bad, I like the low ones better. I'm happy my new job pays for all my mileage.

That's the extent of my thoughts on gas prices.

We're now down to $2.47 (cheapest I saw yesterday). We've dropped $.60 in about 3 weeks.

3$ for a gallon of gas is unreasonable but 3.50 for a cup of low fat mocha latte double coffee is reasonable?!

Geez, doesn't everyone realize prices are dropping because the elections are coming up?

Yeah, I never understood this mindset on gas.

While I agree with you completely, it's important to note here that OKC is pretty spread-out as far as what is called the "metro area." It's very possible that a person being referred to as living in OKC can live 45 minutes driving time easily from various popular restaurant districts like Bricktown.

Not a huge difference by any stretch, but...

OKCBusiness is a much better place to get your news and info. Why? I was the lead programmer on the site. :)

It's not because of the price of the gas used driving out to dinner, it's the fact that more expensive gas = less disposable income.

Ok in this case that may be true, but I see statements like this in the news all the time that are indeed directly related to the gas cost.

Exactly. I drive over 100 miles per day just to get to and from work. And that's during crappy rush hour traffic, which eats more gas because it's stop and go. $3 a gallon makes a much bigger dent in my wallet than $2 per gallon does. Because I spend so much on gas, I have less $$ to spend in other areas. It's very simple, IMO.

bingo, it's really not only the 15 miles that matters to me, it's the 250 other miles I drive in a week. If I save $10 a week on fillup, at the end of the month I got a dinner at the restaurant that right now I can't afford right now...

FM

They are directly linked. If we assume the amount of gas you must purchase is fixed and gas prices go up 50 percent, that translates into real dollars. I spend about $50 more per gas monthly right now than I did a year or so ago, and that money has to directly come from somewhere. There's only so much in the pie. In that regard, decisions on spending more money to go out to eat are directly link to gas prices.

I guess it depends on your perspective. There are a lot of factors whether go out more if gas prices go up 50%. Here are some:

• Your income: IMHO, if you make $4k a month, $50 a month is nothing.

• How much you spend on eating: I have a wife and three kids so it's often about $50 for me to eat out; on the other hand, if you're single that could be two or three meals out.

• How much gas do you use: Obviously the less you use the less it affects you. There are subfactors like the kind of vehicle you drive, how far away work is, etc.

To me, $50 more per month is nothing due primarily to how much it costs my family to eat out. We usually eat out twice a week and this wouldn't affect me much. That's just $50 less I put into my kids' college funds. ;)

I just paid $3.26 for per gallon this morning, so fuck this article in the ass, along with all of you vaginal pricks who pay $2.whatever per gallon. Suck it.

lol @ "vaginal pricks"

Seriously, though - if the price of gas fell to $2.00, I could finally afford to buy that new SUV I've had my eye on.

Yeah....just filled up at 2.92 this morning...for the mini-van it came out to $46 while my Jeep, will be closer to $60 (I will find that out before I go fishing this next week)

The entire northwest doesn't seem to have dropped at all.

solutions:

a) move closer to work
b) carpool
c) get more efficient car
d) combination thereof

... and oh yeah, pick up some equities in the energy sector

Complaining doesn't help, everything has a cost and we all have choices to make everyday. I really hate the sense of entitlement everyone has that is ruining this country.

- don't want to pay for gas but want to roll around in huge SUVs -
- don't want to pay for medicine but want to eat like a pig and not exercise -
- etc., etc., etc. -

Can you tell me who you really are, so I can say "I agree with..."

"

I haven't seen gas under $3/g since April. Around $2/g? Maybe 1997.

Course, I buy premium, lowest I've got in the last year (since I kept track) is $2.29/g.

You aren't comprehending what they are saying.

Most casual dining restaurants have had a few bad quarters due to the high price of gas pressuring disposable income. If you get dragged to a Cheesecake Factory at lunchtime, you'll see they are pushing a lower priced, lunch portion sized menu directly because of this.

Thanks for the advice, but I wasn't looking for any. I was simply stating a fact that the increase in gas prices directly affects the amount of money I have to spend on other things, and therefore has changed my spending habits.

I hate the cost of gas and I drive a Honda Accord. Am I allowed to complain?

I drive an Accord too. I bought it the year before they came out with the hybrid version. I wish I had waited. I think with the amount I drive, it would have been worth the extra money I would have spent on the car.

I have a 2006. I'm getting about 28-30 miles to the gallon which is pretty sweet. That is even with a mix of about 50/50 highway/city. When I can get out on the highway on a trip it's even higher.

My girlfriend just bought an Acura TL last weekend, I'm interested to see how that does.

With the price of gas going down, I can afford to start smoking again!

NO! ride your bike - ;)

That's what the man on the grassy knoll told me too.

I wouldn't mind riding a bike to work in the spring or fall. Problem is I work on the other side of the Connecticut River and there isn't a non-expressway over the river.

Give me $50 then would you, I have a couple uses for it right now.

Let me correct myself. An extra $50 a month to spend on gas is nothing. I have to buy gas. I don't have to give you $50. :D

I did read somewhare (possibly in another FOFC thread) that hybrids don't really pay out (until year 7 or 8 or so), because the dealer mark-up is so high. Though, if you do drive it a lot, you will make your money back sooner...

Depends somewhat on how much of the tax break you can get. Only the first x amount of buyers get the break, and they are close to selling x cars now, so the financials will work out even worse then they were before.

Yeah. That's what I was getting at. Unfortunately, you pay a big premium to the car company to buy a hybrid. I drive enough that it would probably at least even out, but I would much rather support the hybrid technology than the traditional technology, so as long as the dollars are close to the same.

Is a depression era looming?

I agree with Logan.

I think the over looked part of high gas prices is the big picture. Higher gas prices will affect all products because of higher shipping costs. So far inflation has been kept in check to an extent, but it will eventually began creeping into just about every aspect of life. Unfortunatley the U.S. economy is wed to gasoline prices whether the effect is real or perceived. The majority of Americans are middle to lower working class and 50 bucks a month can mean more than sacrificing a night out at the movies. And even though people hate to admit it, when the majority starts curtailing their spending even those that are most insulated from the more costly gasoline start becoming affected through downsizing/layoffs. Eventually the economy will slow or crash. We are way to dependent on the flow of oil or in this case refining capacity to have any real security in the U.S. One can look at the Ford shutdowns as an example. People aren't buying as many new vehicles, because they either don't want the gas guzzlers they are producing, or they are afraid their is no end in sight for rising gas prices.

Plus, $3.5 trillion deficit, which politicans are too selfish to realize is a serious problem, won't help. Problem is, our economy has a pretty global impact on rest of the world.

Don't worry, they will screw over truckers for a while longer to keep the impact from getting to high. One day though, BLAMMMY!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a TL. On the highway, it is a steady 30/31 MPG. When I was living in Tallahassee and had more stop-and-go traffic on the drive to and from work, I was only at around 20/21 MPG. Now that I'm in Lexington and have 45-65 MPH zones for over half my drive to and from work, I'm at around 24/25 MPG.